The present invention relates generally to interactive television, and more particularly, to a system and method for displaying a sequence of advertisements or other informational images to a viewer, where the viewer selects information sets of interest to the viewer or the information displayed is based on viewer preferences.
The distribution of advertisement via television is well established. Advertisers typically purchase advertisement time on a specific channel and time period with the rate being set by the popularity of programs airing within the time period. The more popular the underlying program or time slot, the more expensive the advertising rate. With the increase in the number of network stations, advertisers are confronted with the task of determining which stations are appropriate for their products or services. It is also difficult for advertisers to select a type of advertisement that will appeal to a broad cross section of the population (e.g., males, females, young and old).
Commercials are often targeted based on the type of television shows a viewer watches. For example, an advertisement for tulips is preferably displayed to a viewer who watches gardening programs. Similarly, an advertiser on the Internet may track the web sites that a user visits and use this information to determine that the user is interested in gardening. A banner ad for tulips may then be displayed to the user. Internet advertisement companies often use a targeting technology that allows advertisers to target consumers through the use of profiling criteria developed based on users activity on the Internet. The decision as to which advertisement to display is made remotely (e.g., cable headend system or server). This requires that information about a user be transferred to a remote collection area, which can create privacy problems. A user may not want personal information collected on his television viewing or “surfing” habits and provided to advertisers or other service providers.
Furthermore, from a consumer's perspective, one of the most irritating aspects relating to advertising is the inability of the consumer to provide any control over the content of the advertisement information. The viewer can only watch what is presented and cannot switch between different advertisements as he can with programs.
There is, therefore, a need for a method and system for displaying advertisement on a television that allows a viewer to interact with the advertisement by providing the viewer a controllable advertising window for display of advertising information or other selectable information, and may also allow a profile to be established on the viewer so that the advertisement presented to the user is in a form that interests the viewer. There is also a need for a system and method for displaying targeted advertisements to a user without collecting information about a user at a location remote from the user.